ARLINGTON, Texas — Against many of the odds (Vegas, national media, fan expectation, etc), the Texas Rangers dominated the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card Series as their sweep of the 99-win Central Florida squad now sends them to Baltimore for a showdown with the American League East champion Orioles.
Texas was afforded three shots to top the Rays but it only took them two games where they outscored them by a combined 11-1. It was perhaps unexpected dominance from the Rangers but it shouldn’t be questioned too heavily as they have shown the ability to beat good teams all season, albeit not as consistently late in the campaign.
With everything in place for a playoff run, the Rangers conquered the Rays behind incredible starting pitching and the next generation of superstars.
- Game 1: Texas 4, Tampa Bay 0 (W: Montgomery, 1-0, L: Glasnow, 0-1)
- Game 2: Texas 7, Tampa Bay 1 (W: Eovaldi, 1-0, L: Eflin, 0-1)
Three Up
The Evan Carter Show, Episode 2 – There was no way that Evan Carter could top his postseason debut from Game 1 of this Wild Card Series was there? After a 2-for-2 performance, with two walks, a stolen base, and a run scored with a spectacular diving catch, Carter’s postseason resume was already excellent after just one game.
In Game 2, Carter decided he would add to the accolades. After drawing another walk in his first PA of the day, the 21-year old rifled a 391-foot, two-run homer into the right field bleachers on the tail end of a four-run inning by the Rangers to crack open a scoreless game.
With the walk and home run, Carter brought his streak of consecutive plate appearances reaching base to start his postseason to six. The Rays finally got him to strike out for his first out of the series but he managed to get on base by getting hit by a pitch in his last at-bat.
Carter might have been overlooked by everyone going into this Wild Card Series, but going forward, the rookie’s presence is going to be heavily scrutinized.
Pitching prowess – Not enough can be said about the Rangers’ pitching in this series. As was noted by MLB.com’s Mike Petriello in regards to playoff game decisions, if a team gets shut out, nothing else matters.
While the Rays certainly didn’t help themselves by racking up five errors in the series, they left 13 on base and were 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Even though they managed to get 14 hits over the two games, the duo of Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi wouldn’t let them string together anything to mount any momentum.
Montgomery went seven shutout innings, while Eovaldi turned back the clock to the days when he was winning May Pitcher of the Month and put up 6 ⅔ innings of one-run ball. Such was the impervious state of the starting pitching that only three relievers had to be called on total during the series – Aroldis Chapman, who threw one shutout inning, Josh Sborz who threw 1 ⅓ shutout innings, and Jose Leclerc.
Leclerc, who appears to be the Rangers’ closer through the postseason, was used on back-to-back days, and while he allowed two hits in Wednesday’s clincher, he didn’t allow anyone to cross the plate. With two off days ahead of them before Baltimore, the Rangers’ bullpen is going to be well-rested thanks mostly to the starters getting it done.
Running wild – The Rangers were one of the least aggressive base-running teams in the Major Leagues all season. In a year where bases were made bigger, only three teams stole fewer bases than Texas’ 79 steals.
During the two-game sweep of the Rays, however, they swiped three bags and sprinted for an extra base when the opportunity presented itself. Leody Taveras had two of the stolen bases and Carter had the other. Taveras’ theft in Game 2 came ahead of a Josh Jung triple where a diving play was missed by Rays’ outfielder Josh Lowe. Taveras put pressure on Lowe to make a diving attempt on Jung’s well-placed hit as his speed had put him into scoring position.
The aggressiveness, especially at the bottom of the lineup, will change how the lineup gets pitched. The key going forward is to force teams to make plays but not run irresponsibly.
Three Down
Robbie Grossman, 3-Hole Hitter – It’s hard to find a lot to give the thumbs down to from a two-game playoff sweep, but having a three-hole hitter who doesn’t do a lot of damage might certainly be one of them.
Over the course of the year, Robbie Grossman’s slash line against left-handed starting pitching was .326/.435/.574, which is excellent and shows his place on the team. However, neither Tyler Glasnow nor Zach Eflin were left-handed starting pitchers. They are right-handed, and Grossman’s line against right-handed starting pitching is .188/.282/.290.
Now, hindsight will say that it doesn’t matter and the Rangers won the series, but they did so in spite of Grossman hitting behind their MVP candidate shortstop, as the switch-hitter went 1-for-9 with a walk and four strikeouts while the Rays even intentionally walked Corey Seager to face Grossman in Game 2. It was a move that paid off for Tampa Bay until others in the lineup came through for Texas.
Back-to-Back for Leclerc – Inevitably, there will be points in this postseason, as it continues, where Rangers’ closer Jose Leclerc will need to be used in back-to-back games. In fact, Leclerc succeeding in back-to-back situations could be a key to the Rangers continuing to advance in the postseason.
The ideal situation would be for Leclerc to pitch on 2-3 days’ rest, when he has a career sub-2.00 ERA. In the second game of a back-to-back, Leclerc has a 3.92 ERA throughout his career. That said, he also has more of his career saves in those situations, so it’s not something he’s unfamiliar with enduring.
The Rangers used Leclerc in both games of this series and, even though they led 7-1 on Wednesday, Leclerc was summoned to shut the door. This isn’t unexpected in the postseason. Why take a chance? Still, making sure Leclerc is not overworked should also be a priority as he’s been the stabilizing arm at the end of games that they’ve lacked for much of the season.
Even though the Rangers have two days off ahead of Game 1 on Saturday in Baltimore, and with the rest of the bullpen being shaky to say the least, with a six-run lead, it would have been nice to give Leclerc a little extra rest ahead of the next round.
Grabbing opportunities – While the Rangers were the leaders in the American League in walks, they were also second in the league in home runs. Swinging for the fences should naturally equate to a lot of strikeouts, but the Rangers were league-average in that category, ranking 14th in the Majors at roughly six strikeouts for every homer.
In this two-game set, the Rangers struck out a total of 21 times to their two homers. There were situations in the first game, specifically in the top of the 5th, where the Rangers had the bases loaded, and while they were already up 2-0 in a game they would win 4-0, the potential for a bigger inning was there, but Taveras and Jung struck out.
Strikeouts are part of the game, but there were runs left on the table. In a situation where you’re not always going to get the performances from your starting pitching like Texas did in this series (as much as you’d love to), the opportunities from the lineup have to be taken.
Nevertheless, the Rangers won their first playoff series since 2011 and it wasn’t even close. They’re now 7-0 against the Rays in the playoffs at Tropicana Field all-time. With the Wild Card round behind them, they now travel a few hundred miles north to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to take on the 101-win Baltimore Orioles.
The Orioles will have been resting for five days when Game 1 of the Division Series starts at noon on Saturday. Sometimes, that’s not always the best thing for a team. But, as breakout rookie Evan Carter has been prone to saying in his first taste of the postseason, it’s best to take things one game at a time.
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